Expanding world brings more losses

As you age and you expand your world...you meet new people, form new friendships and get close to people.  That world will lose people that are dear to you here on Earth.  This planet lost a good one yesterday.

Laverne Brown.

I did not know her professionally, I have heard of the wonderful things she did there and thank her for her service, but no she and I shared a friend, Sherry.  Sherry is a dear soul to me, as a matter of a fact I always say when I grow up I wanna be just like her, rats there I go getting off topic.

Sherry and I met 11 years ago and had much in common, one thing was BOOKS!  Laverne would read them, pass them to Sherry and then she would to me.  I would pass them to Sherrie Caylor and so it continued.

One day after a garden was built at Olivet, Sherry brought Laverne to the Prayer Garden and I took their photo. I wish I could find it, but I think it was PRE digital photos. :)

Anyway, Heaven has gained another angel today. A very sweet, kind angel.  She will be missed here, but her suffering is over. 

"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."  Psalms 116:15


Today's cards were made while thinking of Laverne.  Have a great day.

Good Friends

I don't think I have been lucky here. Sometimes I think it's me, sometimes I think I choose unwisely, sometimes I just think that maybe I am unlucky.  Oh, but I do ramble.  

I just mainly wanted to state that I feel that I have gotten in too deep in an area I should not have, who among us has not. I was seeking something. I still have not figured out what it was. I look at what I have and I see I am blessed beyond measure. Way more than I deserve. I have a loving husband that treats me like a princess.  Two VERY good kids that are just incredible.  A possessions I don't deserve but am grateful for none the less.  

I am not going to dwell on the things I have screwed up or left in the past.  I am going to focus on the here and now and my blessings. 

 

Two quotes to leave you with today:


'Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.” CS Lewis


1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

St Valentine's Day

I am trying not to be into the whole obligated holiday thing.  It may be sweet for some, but we need our money for something else at my house.  I am excited about the “I love yous” on a daily basis.  Happy that my hubby loves me 365 days a year and not just on the one day.  Happy that my hubby provides for us, feeds us (even will go to the grocery for us), that he takes my son to ball practice, that he mows the yard, that he chases moles, that he is a good driver, that he is a great grill cook,  that he can stand my craziness, that he is a great dad and husband.  I guess I am grateful that he doesn’t need $100 spent on him on Valentine’s Day, he knows how I feel. 

That aside, I was very happy with the gesture from people that did NOT have to show me their love today. 

First is my beautiful teenage daughter, who at times I know would LOVE to claim that she was adopted!  She decided to take time out of her night last night to make her family a cake.  This was the first cake that she made all by herself from scratch.  It was a tasty cake too.  I am so proud of her!!!  She’s pretty wonderful!

Then there is Cassie Rogers.  She hasn’t known me for long, but in the time that she has known me she has embraced me and picked me up after I had been terribly hurt.  She has embraced my craziness and as a matter of a fact, I think she might be as crazy as me.  She doesn’t crowd me, she knows that I like my sleep, and she still accepts me.  She has done a few things for me that have shocked me; people just don’t do things for people anymore.  Once she bought me some hand gel because we were talking about it and well, she listened.  Another time, she went to the movies with me for 10 hours and she brought me a goodie bag and a Breaking Dawn pin (that I love).  And today she topped the cake, she came to school and brought me a Valentine!!! She did not have to do that!  How wonderful is that?  I don’t deserve it, but I gratefully accept it (it was yummy too).

My point?  Do I ever have one?  This time I think that I do..... just that I am grateful for all those in my life that love me every day and NOT just Valentine’s Day. 

Words of Wisdom to a new mom

In August I changed jobs and I have met many new people in the last few months.  Some have changed my life, my outlook on life and how I am.  I have grown close to people that I did not even know last July.  One of them has the office next to me.  There is just something about her.  Her whit, her strength, her drive, and her personality, as one student said “she’s off the chain”.  She is simply extraordinary!!

A little bit ago, she had a baby.  A precious little baby with the most adorable hands!  We are about to give her a shower at work and I thought, what would I have wanted when I was a first time mom?  It hit me……. When I was a about to become a mom I got plenty of advice on how to do things, like caring for the baby, but no one mentioned that I would be a soul provider.  What a HUGE responsibility that is!  Even to contemplate that, well it’s a little overwhelming. 

This is the advice I needed and did not get.  This is the advice I wanted to pass on in my baby gift to my new friend.  I decided to make her a canvas with one of the greatest little prayers that I have read.  

the canvas after the inking

the finished product

c

cherish tag

close up of cherish tag

Kind of sums it up…Parents love their kids in good and bad.  And on a larger scale……God loves us when we screw up, when we do right and just us in general. 

14 years ago, I began the road that my friend is now traveling down.  It is a road that has had some bumps, happiness, tears and some wonderful adventures.  I hope my friend is showered with many blessings on this new journey she has undertaken.  My prayer for her house is that her journey is as great for her as mine has been for me and that her child knows above all God is SOOOOOO good!! 

thanks Gingersnap Creations for this challenge, thanks to God for all else.  

http://gingersnapcreations.blogspot.com/2012/02/c137-chestnut-theme-challenge-words-of.html

 products used:
Cherish tag (copper), fragment, and all inks by Tim Holtz (broken china, frayed jeans, chipped sapphire)
bear and star beads and white ribbon by trinkets
jewel from the Christmas clearance aisle
Bingo chips thingys by Maya Road
Prayer from an old children's book
Angel and baby die cut and stars/moon from things I have collected from yard sales
Blue tag (featuring baby stats) by Technique Tuesday
Cherish silver tag by Joann's
paint used for angel by American crafts

Stacy Renee Isbell "Squirt" Robinson

Is a girl I have known since I was very very very young. Our parents introduced us to each other. She had hair that was so long, black and silky and I was jealous about that! She had a massive collection of teddy bears and a pool table (very fun) and my favorite part of her house was this little spiral staircase (I don't even remember if I even knew where it went---I never climbed it, but I did sit on it). She had some teen idol stuff in her room and a day bed in the corner.

Her mom was precious, but I really don't remember her dad too much (I think he was at work when I visited).

We rode the bus together for 8 years. We were friends but not close friends...then we went to high school. I think we might have ridden the bus together then, but I have blocked out all high school bus riding experiences! We did start hanging out more and more. When she got her license we began making a figure 8 around the little town of Mayfield. We would sing songs, chase boys, and continue making that circle. When I got my license we would take turns cruising in her very cool car (a red Barretta?) and my lovely long stylish wood-paneled station wagon (HEY). We were hip, young and cool. AND LOUD! Wait, maybe that was me!

She graduated from high school and went to Murray and left me. We both fell in love and married, she moved away, I moved away. Sad sad sad, but all these years later, we are still friends. I still think of her. Like today (August 27), the anniversary of her birth. Friend, may your day be full of happiness!

Happy 40th!!!!!!!